[Cob] Can I lay tile over a cob subfloor?

[avjyoung at shaw.ca]

Good questions; the bathroom is about 12 by 6 feet. The shower is at one end 
(no bath) so that end will get wet. The sink is down one of the long sides, 
so the floor around there will get wet too.  I guess we need a strip around 
3 by 4 feet in front of the shower, and about 2 by 4 feet in front of the 
sink, at a minimum. The shower (no bath) is a self contained fibreglass pod 
thing (we are caving to time pressures and four splashy people) so no 
worries there. One wall is strawbale but on an 18" foundation wall, the 
others are frame or frame on cinderblock, so it's just water from bathroom 
use we are concerned about. The bottom of the cob subfloor is about 2" above 
the top of the finish ground level outside, with pumice, vapour barrier, and 
roadbase below . The subfloor is about 4" thick and has radiant floor 
heating going through it, so it does have some drying capability.

Anna

-----Original Message----- 
From: tbachdrums2 at yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2017 9:19 PM
To: avjyoung at shaw.ca
Cc: Coblist
Subject: Re: [Cob] Can I lay tile over a cob subfloor?

Anna,

How many SF or square Meters is the bathroom and the amount of floor to be 
tiled?  Is the shower/bath area completely dried in, or will some humidity 
get to the subfloor through wicking from the walls to the subfloor?
How high off the ground level is the cob subfloor?

It's hard to say without seeing your set up, but for the areas that receive 
a ton of moisture like a bathroom area, I would go with as few surfaces that 
will harbor mold as possible, and favor surfaces that are easy to clean.

If this area is going to have a bath and shower,...then embedding it in cob, 
at least to my ears of working in Texas and North Carolina, seems like that 
will mean a lot of work to keep it clean and dry in the years to come.



On Jan 26, 2017, at 3:45 PM, <avjyoung at shaw.ca> <avjyoung at shaw.ca> wrote:

All of our subfloor and most of our finish floor is cob, but we are wanting 
to lay some tiles in the bathroom to stop any water getting in. I am OK with 
bedding them in a layer of the finish cob with a spacing between them to 
allow for cob drying (with cob well oiled and waxed), but my husband is not 
sure this will keep it dry enough. He is keen on a layer of thin waterboard 
over the cob subfloor, with the tiles laid on that, to prevent any water 
getting in. I don’t think we need to go this far, but would love some 
insight.

Ta muchly,

Anna
Cob/strawbale hybrid in Victoria BC. Ten years and counting....
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